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I've been trying to find a way to get cachers to place my travel bug in exciting and interesting areas. In order to do this I started a travel bug diary in hopes that people will log on and give the placement a bit more thought. We'll see how it goes.

We have a TB in our inventory that's called 'Library' I think. It's mission is to be photographed outside or inside libraries and left in caches near libraries. Tomorrow I'm taking it to photograph it at the Juan de Fuca branch and then I'll pop it into one of JRAV's caches in the park behind. We aren't always this diligent, but we occasionally make the extra effort. It helps when you see that other people who have had the TB have taken the mission into consideration.
We only have a couple of TB's of our own, but we give our coins interesting missions. A lot of people take the mission into consideration and some people even write and ask if it's ok to leave it in a cache that doesn't meet the mission, but they wanted to move it along.
First Prize goes to DogMagoo and HC & Scooter who helped our Geocoin Racer get to us in Victoria - that was it's mission when it left Toronto last summer and it made it over from the mainland for the BCGA event!

I'm usually trying to "trade" them in a fair manner...
...one TB out, one TB in... one coin out, one coin in.

Most times I'm not going to even read what their mission is,
but am certain that the owner will be happy enough to see it move at all!

Sometimes bugs will accumulate, that's when I drop a whole bunch of them
into the next empty cache i find (this has a lot to do with the size of TBs as well).

On the other hand I sometimes will not have a TB to trade, but still will pick up
a TB out of a cache:
- if the cache looks in danger of being muggled or is soaked
- if the TB looks very interesting
- if the cache isn't being found a lot
- if the cache is too full and hard to close

Since the introduction of "discovering" trackables, I've - I admit it - done a lot of that instead.

When do I help TBs on their mission?
If I happen to have them still in my posession (a lot will move just from one cache I found that day to another cache I found that day) and their mission is easy to fulfill.
Some TBs, that want to travel to specific far away locations, I try to relocate towards
an airport or to a TB-hub/hotel, but not always get around to it and just drop them again in just another cache.
I will especially go out of my way to help a TB, if I can complete their mission or atleast a stage of it.
For instance I remember very well still, a TB which I had found sitting outside a cache-container in Victoria in it's "own" cache-container. The TB wasn't logged into that cache at all, but rather was thought to be MIA by it's owner. The next stage was to reach the Canadian Pacific! Well, Duh! I brought it down to the waterfront and made a picture.
Mission success and of it went to it's next goal down the coast into the U.S.
(left it close to the Coho-Ferry terminal).

With coins it is much different:
I'll specifically will go after a coin, if I don't have it's icon yet
Their goal is generally being ignored, but rather I look for another coin I can trade it with.

Even so, I noticed, that, as long as they do not get "washed away" or in any other way muggled, or as long as they don't get abducted (one of my TBs is in the hands of a newbie cacher, who since seems to have "given up" on the sport, for over 1 year now!)
they all somehow, over the long run, will fulfill their goals.

It is just as it was until up to a couple years ago with regular Post:
your letter just might get stuck to one, which is headed for Indonesia or South Africa and goes along for the ride... once there, their post office will realize the mistake and send it back "on track".
Has anybody had that happen to their letters recently?

I'm not sure that I would write anything else into a TBs "diary" other then date of find and my cacher-name, but others might be more willing to write stories...

The most usefull thing I have seen on a bug has been an information sheet with a number of boxes that can be ticked off as it visits the goals it wants to get to. In this case, it was NHL arenas, so as it went there, the cacher who posted the photos would also tick off that it had visited GM place, and then people would know that it could be moved in another direction.

I do like information sheets, since when I visit a cache, I am likely to pick up a bug if it has been there a little while. However if I see on an info sheet that it is trying to make it somewhere specific, I might just leave it there, if I think, perhaps, that it will make it to Alaska easier if left in the Vancouver area, rather then coming back with me to the Valley.

Coins, well, I generally pick them up and move them. I do try to swap one for one, but if I have none in my hands currently, I will generally pick up one to move along.

Scruf - what a neat idea I love TBs so pick them up as often as possible and move them on their mission. The only time I don't pick them up is if I can't keep them on their mission unless they haven't moved for a while. I don't trade for TBs unless there is a particular requirement on a cache that requests that. I want my TBs to move as often as possible. I take pictures often but have many that I have not posted yet. (Also think I have a few of the last Meet 'n Greet). TBs are such a great learning opportunity for kids. Keep up them moving and keep up the stories

Scruffster...I love the TB website for Scruffy...wonderful idea. I just moved my first TB and now wish I had taken a photo of some beautiful local scenery with the TB in the foreground. Thoughts for next time. (I'm new )

I also liked the tick sheet with the travel bugs and hope to incorporate some of these ideas when I release my first bugs on their way.

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